New Delhi, April 25 -- China on Thursday sent three astronauts to its permanently inhabited space station for a six-month stay, in a regular rotation of Chinese astronauts onboard the "Tiangong" orbiting high above the Earth's atmosphere.
The spacecraft Shenzhou-18, or "Divine Vessel", and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 8:58 p.m. (1258 GMT), according to state media. Leading the six-month mission was 43-year-old Ye Guangfu, who last went to Tiangong, or "Heavenly Palace" in Chinese, in October 2021 in China's second crewed mission to the station.
Accompanying him this time were Li Cong, 34, and Li Guangsu, 36, both in space for the first time and h...